General Discussion

I was just thinking about this waiting on two MMOs to be released (and re-released). One of those is Ryzom. I have heard a little bit about the game and asked a few questions and found out it is skill based. Now, I have only played SWG when it was skill based and that was an unique experience, and everyone can agree.

Now the other game is The Chronicles of Spellborn. Now this game has your typical class level base gameplay, albit with other unique elements onto itself (playing kinda like AoC where your targetting is controlled) with a combo and tiered attack system. Especially love the fact that there is no gear to find in the game. You only need the enhancements (sigils), jewelry, and weapon (I think). All armor (and maybe weapons) are only for aesthetic purposes, which is just freaking kewl.

Now take the two elements in these two games, skill based and class based, and meld them together. Have each class have a common pool of skills and a specialized pool of skills that fit with the class.

Example: Like a Warrior class could have all the common skill types, like Running, Endurance Training, you know, skills that work all across each character in the game. Then have a list of skills JUST for the Warrior class like Unarmed, Hand to Hand, 1h Weapons, 2h Weapons, Axe/Sword/Mace/Dagger/Staff/Fist/Claws/Ect Specializations, Light/Medium/Heavy Armor Training, ect. Mage class would have the common skills types, like all other classes, but contain spellcasting schools of different types of magic and whatnot.

You could even take this a bit further and introduce either hybrid classes in the game which contain a selective mix of skills between the core classes and may even introduce some uniques of their own or have a dual class system in place to allow classes to take skills outside their main class, but of course, maybe have some type of penality. Maybe you can only go half as high as the secondary class or skill points cost double outside the primary class. But this should not be forced to where every player needs a primary class and a secondary, only if the player wanted too. Most likely, just having hybrid classes would fit this type of game style better.

Why, if some love class based and some love skill based, can the two not be melded together to produce a just, what else can I say, totally badass game?

Honestly, how hard can it be for developers to come up with something unique instead of all of them mostly being class/level based and some being skill based? Maybe there is not any other system but skill and class/level based but if you meld the two together, that is something unique. Honestly, I think the SWG system was set up like this if I remember.

Either way, I hopefully will see something unique in the near future, or the future is going to look grim for MMO players.

Discuss.

Yeah, that would be a step in the right direction.

I think I still prefer SWG which allowed you to do anything, anytime.  But what you described would certainly be more realistic than what we currently have.  I don't think I'll be playing another class/level game after the debacle that is Age of Conan.

It just feels to elementary and restricted.  I want virtual freedom, I don't want some nerd who writes quests for the game I play to determine my path for me, step by step. 

Level/class = lame and dated

well all classes in TCoS are hybrids and I wouldnt really say the combat is the same as AoC,In AoC you just had to be facing the right direction and in range were as with TCoS you have a sight the same as in fps and all attacks/heals must be aimed and hit to be successful.

I am also waiting on TCoS and hope it will be a huge success,not only because I have been waiting for it for sometime but if it pulls it off well then maybe other devs will take notice and we can get away from the mmo mould that almost if not all games use these days.

Well, after some intense research, I am seeing some really large titles that will be coming out in the not-so-close-but-neither-distant future. Take Fallen Earth for example, they seem to have taken hints from previous developers that a class based game has been done too many times and are not producing a total skill based game. I will be watching this game closely now also.

The great thing about the skill based MMO's is you can just be those classes and not have to choose them. Maybe pre-selected templates or something for people who aren't familiar with those sort of games, but I hate classes.

The idea too that some classes will have abilities not obtainable by that of another class is something I also wouldn't like. I suppose you get the when your still playing UO=D

3 games on my list of games to look out for; Mortal Online, Fallen Earth, and Darkfall.

Anarchy Online uses a hybrid system between class and skill base (see here for a short discussion on it: mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/192196). The role of professions is determined by their nano+perk toolset, but every profession can use every kind of weapon (there's some profession locked weapons though). Free players (without perks) and support oriented profs (without specialization in any specific type of weapon) have the most freedom of choice (they loose the least or even gain the most for not using their typical prof weapons).

Another thing is that in my experience skill based games can be played as class based games, but not the other way around. In Ryzom I've known a player who had 240+ skill in healing and her second highest skill was only 130: without forced class restriction you can still play a dedicated role. Myself, I always tried to be either a healer or mentat in groups in Ryzom, but I could fill other roles at lower levels. It is the same with crafting, I could have started learning every craft, but I chose to specialize in light armor.

In Ryzom it was also not possible to switch from caster to fighter in mid fight, light armored people can't take a beating and someone in heavy armor drains his entire manapool with one spell.

all classes in TCOS are hybrid.

the closest thing to skill based in the game though is that after each level you can invest in three stats, and you can duplicate skills and upgrade them(a bit more damage, faster tier rotation).

as for player skill based yes it's there there's a lot of it, if you try to play it like a nomral MMO you will die in the starter area over and over and over.  As for character skill based it's not, those that like skill based games will like the system but they'll also know that it's not skill based.

We already have plenty of class & skill-based MMOs. How do you think you skill up your weapon and crafting skills in World of Warcraft for example? They used a minimum use based system. This is pretty common, most MMORPGs allow crafting to be skilled up in this manner along with weapon skills

If you going to force me into a Class well there goes the sandbox element of building my character. That is usually not what people have in mind when we look for a skill-based game. 

Originally posted by Zyllos

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Now take the two elements in these two games, skill based and class based, and meld them together. Have each class have a common pool of skills and a specialized pool of skills that fit with the class.

Example: Like a Warrior class could have all the common skill types, like Running, Endurance Training, you know, skills that work all across each character in the game. Then have a list of skills JUST for the Warrior class like Unarmed, Hand to Hand, 1h Weapons, 2h Weapons, Axe/Sword/Mace/Dagger/Staff/Fist/Claws/Ect Specializations, Light/Medium/Heavy Armor Training, ect. Mage class would have the common skills types, like all other classes, but contain spellcasting schools of different types of magic and whatnot.

You could even take this a bit further and introduce either hybrid classes in the game which contain a selective mix of skills between the core classes and may even introduce some uniques of their own or have a dual class system in place to allow classes to take skills outside their main class, but of course, maybe have some type of penality. Maybe you can only go half as high as the secondary class or skill points cost double outside the primary class. But this should not be forced to where every player needs a primary class and a secondary, only if the player wanted too. Most likely, just having hybrid classes would fit this type of game style better.

Why, if some love class based and some love skill based, can the two not be melded together to produce a just, what else can I say, totally badass game?

Honestly, how hard can it be for developers to come up with something unique instead of all of them mostly being class/level based and some being skill based? Maybe there is not any other system but skill and class/level based but if you meld the two together, that is something unique. Honestly, I think the SWG system was set up like this if I remember.

Either way, I hopefully will see something unique in the near future, or the future is going to look grim for MMO players.

Discuss.

You have just described Dungeons & Dragons Online .

• Wizards can be built to be fighters, Rangers can be built to tank, Barbarians can be built to use magic scrolls/wands, etc...
• Each character can have up to three different classes, each with some of their own specific enhancements. Enhancements are anything from skill boosts, to special attacks, to stat boosts.
•  Each